The Land of the Wandering Souls

The Land of the Wandering Souls follows telecom works undertaken in Cambodia. Rithy Panh’s team – here, for the first time, made up entirely of Cambodians – accompanies the laying of underground cables without worrying about the advancement of the works themselves. As the trench digging progresses, this social film draws the portraits of the male and female workers, forced into a nomadic lifestyle by their jobs. Panh depicts the living conditions of these exploited men and women, gently and without dwelling on their hardships. Digging the earth also uncovers some alarming and painful finds, be it human remains or mines, and at the same time awakens memories. ML